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Action Alert FY Arb4 S <br />Take Action: Stop North Carolina from taking the Monsanto Pledge! <br />Members of the North Carolina General Assembly have filed a flurry of bills created by biotech industry to <br />prevent any local regulations that might restrict genetically modified crops. House Bill 671 [link here] and its <br />counterpart Senate Bill 631 [link here] were recently introduced by the House and Senate Agriculture <br />Committee Chairs, Rep, Dewey L. Hill, and Senator Charlie Albertson, with support from the NC Department <br />of Agriculture. Senate Bill 681, sponsored by Senator David Hoyle (Dem.) and Torn Apodaca (Rep.), also <br />proposes to prohibit local regulation of forestry and agricultural activities. <br />HB 671 and SB 631 aim to prevent towns, counties or cities from passing any ordinance or resolution to <br />regulate any kind of plant or plant pest, giving the NC Department of Agriculture sole authority to regulate <br />plants in the state. While the bills aim squarely to prevent local restrictions of genetically- modified organisms <br />(GMOs), the innocuous language never mentions genetic engineering. The ambiguous text generates additional <br />concerns, because it would eliminate t local authority to restrict sales of invasive plants or noxious weeds. The <br />bills represent little more than a pledge of allegiance from North Carolina's leaders to the ag- biotech industry, <br />with little concern for local communities. <br />The bills are not a home grown initiative, but part of a nationwide agribusiness effort. Similar bills, containing <br />identical language, have cropped up in at least nine other states as part of an orchestrated campaign by industry <br />to prevent citizen initiatives like those passed in three California counties last year that prohibited cultivation of <br />genetically modified crops. While there are currently no organized campaigns for such bans in North Carolina, <br />the bills side -step serious questions about the safety of GMOs and potential impacts on non -GMO and organic <br />farmers, who currently have no protection from genetic "drift" and contamination from GMO crops. <br />Don't let North Carolina cede local control to the Gene Giants — contact your legislators now to protect the <br />rights of towns, counties and cities to regulate plants for the protection of the local economy and public health! <br />Take Action: Concerned citizens need to take action immediately. HB671 is on the calendar for Monday, May <br />9`h. Urge your representatives in the NC General Assembly to to REJECT House Bill 671 and Senate Bill 631 — <br />An Act to Amend the Plant Pest Law to Preempt Local Regulation of Plants and Plant Pests, and SB 681. Find <br />your representative at: <br />http: / /www.ncleg. net /GIS/ Representation /Who_Represents_Me /Who— Represents_Me.html <br />Go here to read the text of preemption bills: <br />HB 671: httn: / /www.nc2a.state.nc.us/ Sessions /2005/Bills /House /HTML/H67lv2.html <br />SB 631: httn: / /www.ncaa.state.nc.us/ Sessions / 2005 /Sills /Senate/HTML /S631vl.html <br />SB 681: htti): / /www.nega.state.ne.us/ Sessions / 2005 /Bills /Senate /HTML /S681vl.html <br />Concerned citizens should also contact the NC Department of Agriculture, and the Bill's sponsors: <br />Steve Troxler <br />Commissioner, NC Department of Agriculture <br />steve.troxler(a)ncmail.net <br />Tel: 919 733 -7125 <br />Rep. Dewey L. Hill, Chair, House Agriculture Committee <br />